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Any location recommendations for a family-ish friendly alps (or pyrenees) trip.
Me and No1 son ride red and easier black at BPW fine, like fast and technical
Wife and No2 son like riding but less confident on steeps/drops etc
Mixture of alpine and lift/fun would be nice and possibility of a harder run or two on without No2 and wife!
I've just got back from Les Gets in the French Alps. There are several blue, red and black routes as well as a nice green route.
Not sure if they have the technical aspect it's more the steepness which makes it fun, along with the berms, switchback and tabletops/jumps.
My partner and I booked through Alpine Elements.
Also take a look at you tube there are loads of videos.
Just back from les arcs which was ace and had a good mix. Not sure what lift assisted stuff there is in the pyrenees, I rode in luchon last year and was thoroughly underwhelmed. Be aware most resorts close their lifts in a couple of weeks, end of August is often the end of their season
Morzine would get my vote. Short transfer if you fly. Easy to find trails and lots of them. Good range of levels from Pootle to World Cup. Fast and technical in abundance. Nice town too for the non riding bit.
Luchon in the Pyrenees is another fave of mine. Big uplift with a good choice of runs, although a lot less than Morzine but plenty for a weekend. Some are a bit tricky to find and a bit cheeky, though. Cheap flight to Toulouse then 2 hrs in a hire car.
Les Arcs would get my vote, plenty of stuff in the Bike Park area under the lifts for The Wife & No2 Which leaves hours and hours of Singletrack riding on both sides of the Valley, Nothing huge drop wise that I've ridden there but lots of steep techy switchback action, most of which you won't want to be getting wrong.
We Usually stay at Gregs in Peissey Narcroix. Great Accom, Excellent grub and good coffee, rates are variable as the more of you go the 2nd, 3rd & 4th person rates decrease. Easy acces to the Lobster pots wich is your gateway to the lifts across the valley or up to the top of the Les Arc side.
Chatel?
Bike bus to/from lift station.
Super Chatel lift for walks or XC tour.
When you say weekend do you mean Friday night to Sunday night? Sounds very expensive and more travel time than riding possibly. I'd save it for a good week personally.
If you're going for a long weekend I'd go to Morzine.
I've been to both Morzine & Les Arcs,the transfer to Les Arcs is a pain & if you're pushed for time it will eat into your time there,ignore this if your'e driving...
Both resorts have lots of lifts,Morzine is a bigger resort so has more bike shops etc.
I found the riding at Morzine to be easier than Les Arcs,more reminiscent of bike park stuff,whereas Les Arcs was/is very technical stuff through the forests with technical Alpine switchbacks & big drops if you get it wrong..There's also some bike park stuff there but not as much as Morzine.
Not sure how they compare for lift pass prices.
HTH
Les Arcs is about 22€ a day I think. 72€ for a week maybe.
thanks for all the replies, have boarded at Les Arcs and really enjoyed the resort so sounds like that's the one